Verity
by DancingGrimm
Summary: Coco investigates a newly discovered type of fruit. Toriko should have waited until he finished before eating it.


Verity

"What are you doing," Sunny asked blandly, wandering into the small lab in which Coco had spent the last few hours working. Coco didn't look up from his microscope.

"I'm looking into this fruit that you and Toriko brought back. It has very interesting properties."

"Oh yeah?" Sunny replied. He was pottering around the room, bored rather than being really interested, but Coco didn't mind. He found it was easier to put his thoughts in order, sometimes, if he spoke them out loud.

"The juice of the fruit contains a chemical that is used by the police as a truth drug."

"Seriously?" Sunny asked, abruptly taking an interest. "That's kinda cool."

"Yes, see?" Coco replied and stepped out of the way to allow Sunny to look through the viewer of the microscope at the small sample of liquid on the slide. Sunny scooped his hair back and leant down to look.

"The version that's used as a truth drug is derived from a type of root," Coco explained. "So we know the chemical is naturally occurring. This form is far stronger though. I believe that only a small amount would have a distinct effect...Sunny?"

"I don't know what the hell I'm lookin' at," Sunny admitted, standing up from the microscope.

"Ah. Oh well," Coco replied. Sunny's bored expression was back.

"Where's Matsu?"

"He went home with Toriko. He was going to cook that...tentacle...thing for him."

"Hm, maybe he can stop it looking so freakin' gross," Sunny mused. Coco agreed that, if anyone could, it would be Komatsu.

"Well, anyway," Coco rounded up, "I'm going to see if I can find a volunteer to help me test the effects of the fruit flesh-"

"You mean nobody's eaten any yet?"

"No."

"Then why's there a bite out of it?"

"Eh?"

...

They were still trying to work out what to call the tentacle fish...thing that Toriko and Sunny had caught. For the time being though, Toriko was content to call it 'delicious'. Komatsu had done his usual great job, and now the two of them were in the kitchen of the sweets house, Toriko loading pans and dishes into the outsized dish washer and Komatsu standing at the sink, carefully cleaning his precious knives in a bowl of warm water.

The fish thing had even managed to get rid of the weird taste Toriko had had in his mouth since he'd taken a bite of that fruit.

"What did you think of the meal then, Toriko-san?" Komatsu asked hopefully, wiping down his blade and picking up its wrappings.

"It was great," Toriko said enthusiastically. "If we ever find out what that thing was, I'll try and catch another one. You did good work on it."

"Ah, I'm so pleased," Komatsu replied, his cheeks colouring just a touch. "Are you still hungry? I could make some dessert."

"Sure," Toriko replied.

"Okay then, what would you like to eat?"

"Your ass."

"W-w-_WHAT_!"

...

Sunny and Coco peered suspiciously at the fruit that sat on the lab table. It looked like a large persimmon, only with a rather paler and scalier skin. On one side of it was the mark from the cut Coco had made in the flesh to draw out some of the juice. On the other side of it was a large bite mark, clearly made by somebody with both a large mouth and pointed teeth.

"That damn bastard," Sunny muttered darkly.

"Hm," Coco responded. "It may certainly present a problem."

"So...he's not gonna be able to lie?"

"No, probably not at all. Toriko is usually quite forthright, so I doubt there'll be any real difference to his normal behaviour. Though..."

"What?"

Coco sighed and folded his arms, turning to lean back against the edge of the table.

"One of the effects of a large dose is that a person keeps talking even when they don't really want to. They answer any question with the first vaguely appropriate thing that pops into their heads. Questions have to be worded carefully, or they may answer in a bizarre but entirely honest way. With Toriko, the effects may not be damaging, but they could certainly be embarrassing, especially if he were speaking with somebody emotionally vulnerable or-"

"Did you say Matsu went home with him?"

"Oh. Oh dear."

"Yeah."

...

"I didn't actually mean to say that out loud," Toriko muttered, rubbing his face.

"You...you didn't mean it?" Komatsu asked hopefully.

"No, I just didn't mean to say it. Aw hell!"

"Don't tell me that!"

"I didn't mean to! It just keeps coming out! I was only thinking about your ass because I was looking at it when you turned around."

"_What_!"

Toriko sat at the table, head in his hands. That weird taste was back in his mouth, which...That was it!

"That fruit I ate, maybe it did something to me," he mused out loud.

"That one you brought back? What did it do?" Komatsu asked, his embarrassment pushed aside for concern. "Do you feel okay?"

"Yeah, but after I ate it I had a weird taste from it in my mouth and it came back again when I spoke just now...Komatsu, you're an...amazing cook!"

"Um...thank you Toriko-san. But shouldn't we stick to the topic?"

"I just tried to tell you you were terrible."

"Oh...um-"

"I couldn't do it though. Seems like I can't lie."

So you really want to...to..."

"Eat your ass? Yeah. I've been thinking about it for a while actually."

Komatsu flinched and pressed his back firmly against the pantry door. "What exactly do you mean by that, Toriko-san?"

"I mean that I want to stick my tongue in there-"

"_Wha_?"

"-and wiggle it around."

"Huh? But..._why_!"

"Because sometimes when you eat you make porn movie noises and I wanted to know what you sounded like when you came."

Komatsu didn't reply. He looked like he was about to faint.

Toriko rose, walked over to the sink, ran cold water from the tap into his hand and then flicked some of it onto his partner's face. Komatsu wheezed gratefully at him.

"So...you aren't actually going to bite me?" Komatsu asked tremulously.

Toriko shrugged. "Only if that's what you like." This wasn't so bad.

"But you...you definitely want to _*gulp*_ eat my ass?"

"Yes. Definitely."

"A-and what else?"

"...Huh?"

...

Sunny hovered impatiently at Coco's elbow as Coco waited for Toriko to pick up his phone. He felt tense and worried, his fingernails digging into the casing of his cell phone, making the plastic creak.

Finally the ringing stopped as the call connected, and Coco amenably held the earpiece a little way from his head so that Sunny, vibrating with stress, could overhear.

"Toriko? It's Coco. Are you okay?"

Toriko smacked his lips noisily before speaking. "I'm fine. Is this about the fruit?"

Coco sighed with relief and Sunny sagged next to him, his hair flattening out as he calmed down.

"Yes, it is about that. Have you experienced-"

"I can't lie, if that's what you're gonna ask. It was kinda...funny when Komatsu and I figured it out."

"Ah, I expected as much. Well, you did know that I was planning to test the fruit for poisons, so you really shouldn't have eaten any. Maybe you'll learn a lesson from this."

"Heh. Probably not."

"Oh...well, yes. You're probably right. So Komatsu's is alright?"

"Yeah, he's great."

"Good. That's...that's a relief. Well, if you feel ill at all Toriko, call me straight away, you understand?"

"Yeah, sure. Don't worry though, we're fine."

Then he abruptly hung up. Coco frowned at the phone, vaguely wondering if Toriko simply preferred not to say goodbye and had had his few concessions to good manners obliterated by the effects of the fruit. He turned to Sunny.

"You heard all that?"

"Yeah. He's sure cheerful. Makes me worry."

"Sunny, I'm sure there's no need to be so suspicious. They're both fine."

...

Toriko switched off his phone and dropped it back on the table.

"Was...was that Coco-san?" Komatsu asked breathlessly from where he was draped over the thickly padded arm of the sofa.

"Yeah, wanted to check I was okay. It _was_ the fruit."

"That's good to know..."

Toriko sat down by Komatsu's feet and looked over him, grinning.

"You want some more?"

"Please," Komatsu replied, pressing his red face into the cushions.

Smiling happily, Toriko grabbed hold and lowered his head. Komatsu whimpered.

The room was quiet, but for some soft, moist noises. Then;

"Ooooh. Oooo_OOOOH_!"

"_*schlup* _That's it! _That's_ the noise!" Toriko cried, sitting up.

"Toriko-san, put it back!"

"Sorry. _*slurp*_"

They'd get to 'what else' later.

...

This fandom has so much potential for the whole 'get strangely affected by unknown substance' trope, I decided I'd make good use of it. I've already done one when Komatsu eats a strong aphrodisiac (Double Dog Dare) and I think it might be fun to do an amnesia one, though I'm not entirely sure which character should eat it. And I'm working, very slowly, on a high school AU, so yes, I'm working my way steadily through all the tired old plot bunnies that every fandom has.

I don't care. I'm enjoying myself .


End file.
